Israel's place in God's economy

"I personally believe that Israel, as a people, is still a unique people in God’s purposes. However, as a nation, they do not have any spiritual or eternal purposes independent of the church. God does not have two peoples, two programs, two eternal purposes, two gospels, and he most certainly does not have two separate brides for his Son (Eph. 2: 11– 22). This does not mean that Israel, as a people, is not still “beloved for the fathers’ sakes.” It is one thing to think of Israel as a physical nation with national and earthly distinctions and another to think of Israel as a people with God’s peculiar mark upon them. Romans 11 convinces me there will be many Jews saved in the future, but they will be part of the church." (John Reisinger, Abraham's Four Seeds, New Covenant Media, Frederick, MD, 1998, Kindle Edition: Location 917)

The Sabbath: Celebrating Christ in the New Covenant

I originally published this study on my first blog called Just Thinking... on 4 September 2006.

In the church today there are multiple views on the issue of the Sabbath. How should the Sabbath be kept, if at all?

Some argue that the Sabbath should be kept in the same way as it was kept in the Old Testament while others argue that it should be kept in the same way, yet that it moved to the first day of the week from the seventh. These call the first day of the week the Lord's Day. There are also others that believe that we should treat each day alike and that there is no day that is more holy than another.

In this article we will attempt to define the relationship of the New Covenant believer to the Sabbath.

We will not concern ourselves with commenting on seventh-day sabbatarians since any comments in this article on sabbatarianism, of whichever form, should be able to be levelled at seventh-day sabbatarians.

The Sabbath Instituted

The Sabbath was instituted at Mt Sinai in the Ten Commandments. God instituted the Sabbath for the Israelites to keep in Ex 20:8-11,

"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.  (9)  Six days you shall labor and do all your work,  (10)  but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.  (11)  For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy."

What is New Covenant Theology?

I received A. Blake White’s new introductory volume entitled, “What is New Covenant Theology? An Introduction,” today. The link to the book takes you to Blake’s blog, so you can read more from his side. The Table of Contents is as follows:

• Introduction
• Chapter 1 – One Plan of God Centered in Jesus Christ
• Chapter 2 – The Old Testament Should Be Interpreted in Light of the New Testament
• Chapter 3 – The Old Covenant Was Temporary by Divine Design
• Chapter 4 – The Law Is a Unit
• Chapter 5 – Christians Are Not Under the Law of Moses, but the ‘Law’ of Christ
• Chapter 6 – All Members of the New Covenant Community Have the Holy Spirit
• Chapter 7 – The Church Is the Eschatological Israel
• Conclusion
• Recommended Reading

It is not a thick book, and it is very easy to read. I am not a fast reader, yet I finished the book in 1.5 hours. It must be remembered that this is an introduction to New Covenant Theology (NCT), and not a PhD dissertation. As such, it may or may not answer all your questions, but it definitely gets you off on the right track.

One of the golden threads right through the book is to remind us that all of Scripture should be interpreted in the light of its main character, which is Jesus Christ and His saving work!

“The story of the Bible is not the story of the covenant of grace; nor is it the story of Israel. The Bible is the story of God’s work in history to sum up all things in Christ. New Covenant Theology strives to keep this one plan of God—centered in Jesus Christ—primary.” (p7)

It is well worth buying this book, as it uses the smallest amount of space, to pack an important subject as NCT, in language that is understandable to all.

To learn more about New Covenant Theology, please visit my blog series, NCT Friday, at my previous blog.

New Covenant Theology Think Tank 2011

Thanks to Chad Richard Bresson for notifying us of the Think Tank and how to follow it. The Think Tank is an annual event where several proponents of New Covenant Theology come together to discuss NCT and its implications.

You can follow the Think Tank via Twitter, Facebook, or on the web.

For an introduction to New Covenant Theology, click on the image above.

It's all about the sacrifice!

I was sitting in church, and one of our pastors was busy preaching on Hebrews 11. We've been going through Hebrews for the last 4 weeks or so, morning and evening services.

You know what it is like, the preacher says something that sets your mind off on this relational tour in your head. The preacher says something that unveils something you have read, studied or heard before, and that triggers something else, and before you know it, you are no longer listening to the preacher, but you are busy meditating on something during the sermon.

I cannot remember what triggered the thought, but I started thinking back to the earlier chapters of Hebrews, starting with chapter 5 and culminating in chapter 10.

Tables on the tables of stone: a summary

Synonyms of the "Ten Commandments"
"words of the covenant"	Ex 34:28
"covenant"	Dt 4:13
"tablets of stone"	Ex 24:12
"tablets of testimony"	Ex 31:18; 34:29
"tablets of the covenant"	Dt 9:9-15

With whom was the Old Covenant, the Ten Commandments, made?
With the nation of Israel alone!	Ex 34:27; Dt 4:13; 5:2-3; 1 Ki 8:9; 2 Chr 6:11

The "sign" of the Old Covenant, the Ten Commandments
The Sabbath	Ex 31:12-18
The penalty for violating the "sign" of the covenant was death	Num 15:32-36; Ex 31:15
All Old Testament Sabbaths were given as a "sign" of the Old Covenant	Ezek 20:11-20
Only a shadow of the things to come, the substance is in Christ	Col 2:12-17

Duration of the Old Covenant, the Ten Commandments
Beginning	Ex 31:18
Did not exist before Mt. Sinai; not made with Israel's forefathers!	Dt 5:2-3
Ended with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross	Heb 8:7, 13; Gal 3:3-14; Eph 2:15; Col 2:14; Heb 9:15

For a little more detail see The Old Covenant died with Christ.

New Covenant Theology for Dummies

Mmmm…. Perhaps someone should write a book called “New Covenant Theology for Dummies.”

But, I digress!

Jimmy Snowden, from Bible Creed, has alerted us to a 10 minute audio message by Moe Bergeron, as an introduction to New Covenant Theology. Jimmy is very impressed with this message.

So, give it a listen!

Also see:
NCT Friday (a short guide on New Covenant Theology).

NCT Commentary on R. Scott Clark's Covenantalism

R. K. McGregor Wright, at Christ My Covenant, has been writing a series of blog posts as a commentary on the covenantalism of R. Scott Clark. He has written several posts in the series so far. Note that these posts are in PDF format (a few in HTML). Here are the links to each of those posts:

Part 1	Part 2	Part 3	Part 4	Part 5
Part 6	Part 7	Part 8	Part 9	Part 10
Part 11	Part 12	Part 13	Part 14	Part 15
Part 16	Part 17	Part 18	Part 19	Part 20
Part 21	Part 22	Part 23	Part 24	Part 25
Part 26	Part 27	Part 28	Part 29	Part 30
Part 31	Part 32	Part 33	Part 34